Sega of America president: Sonic unfit for adults

went and got the sonic collection on ps2 last weekend. dope fun but returned it on tuesday./

I dunno about other adults, but I play games that are FUN. I guess that means that recent Sonic games ARE unfit for adults, simply because they're unfit for everybody due to the fact that they suck. Older Sonic games, on the other hand, keep even adults entertained to the extent that a 15 year old game that's already been played to death can keep a person entertained.

Sega sucks. Sonic the Hedgehog is STILL an awesome game, so is it's first sequel... it went downhill from there, though I don't remmeber much about Sonic 3.

Comments like those just prove that the Sega of today doesn't have a clue what potential their games have.

Isn't this the same moron who said the Wii was a fad a few months ago?

What the Hell does he know?

That's pretty hilarious when you consider that Sonic was the "mature" answer to Mario back in the 16-bit days but Mario continues to draw in people of all ages even today.

If only they didn't make any games after SA2:B, then they wouldn't have to make useless and false statements like this.

What are they saying? "Teenagers and adults, don't buy our games!!"?

yeh... the 2d sonic games are still getting fairly decent reviews (talking about the handheld iterations here... for gba and ds). i know that i'm still a fan of the classic sonic sidescrolling gameplay. they really just need to make a new sonic game that doesn't suck.

Seriously, Sonic is still cool for anyone over the age of 12. Well basically any Sonic that still remains as a mian part of its series (sonic riders, rivals, heroes are perhaps the ones that arent cool).

Yes they're making a Thor movie. It's being done by Matt Vaughn (Stardust, Layer Cake)

What. The. Hell.

This moron obviously doesn't remember the Sonic SatAM.

The problem with both of the last Sonic titles for next gen systems was story and repetitiveness. Also, when playing as Sonic I don't feel as fast as Sonic should be.

Sega needs to recruit Sonic fanfic writers like Dan Drazen or Robert Brown and Francis Tolbert to create a new level of dimension on the Sonic SatAM franchise and throw all this SonicX and Sonic Underground inspired shit out. Or maybe even a Knothole/Mobo/Robotropolis MMORPG, which would probably mostly get the furry vote, but still, if done right it'd sell like hotcakes to an adult audience.

There's things that Sega can do in order to improve this franchise, but they're purposefully killing it.

More proof Sega has no clue what they're talking about.

See, I started liking Sonic around 8 years old, when SA2 came out. I loved it, and was uber excited when Heroes was coming out. I liked Heroes, but I didn't think it was as good as SA2, but still had hope for Sonic. I got all the 2D games, thought they were great, but still was anticipating the console games. But soon enough, both Shadow and Riders were horrible... so I continued to play SA2 and Sonic Advance.

Basically, I could feel my love for the Sonic games decline even BEFORE I was 12, so if the "coolness" factor dies down before after your 12, then I guess many people don't care in the least about Sonic any more.

In their time Sonic Adventures 1 and 2 were great. I loved both of those titles and still have them, hell I still play them every now and again when I am feeling nostalgic.

If Sega wants to make Sonic appealing how about they actually make another good Sonic Adventure game? How about they make a proper franchise out of Rush on the DS?

Sega has no reason to deny the quality of the Sonic franchise unless they actually start making good Sonic games again and they stop selling.

I think the coolness factor is what is hurting the Sonic series. With their lame "cool" voices, "extreme" game play, and bad guitar music, Sega is clearly trying too hard to create a style that was even kind of dumb in the 90's, when it was in fashion.

Very true. That is why the Secret rings wasn't all that bad.


Sure, the party mode sucked, but other than that, It wasn't all that bad.

Sonic stopped making sense after Sonic Adventure 2.

More impotantly. BURN!

The best sonic game was sonic 2, and I downloaded the game to my wii a few months back. I am at least 16 (read 18) years old, so I don't know what they are talking about...

I'm 25. I grew up on Sonic, and I still think Sonic is solid. In fact I think more adults like Sonic then kids do. Same for Mario.

Well *of course* Sonic's going to lose cool factor for adults *when you turn the franchise into a kids series*!! Is this guy actually not aware of the history of his company's mascot? Sonic started out as a rather on-the-edge sarcastic rebel. And not to sound like Sega's own marketing, but he had well...an attitude. But then Sega had to go and slowly mutate their winning wise-ass into some sort of mushy nanny/babysitter that falls flat on it's face the few times it actually attempts to be "cool".

"Every time a new character is added to the series, it bleeds a little bit of what remaining cool factor it had. Even adults would play and enjoy Sonic if, you know, Sega made a good one."

Yea, that too. Very well said. The best ones were Sonic 2 and Sonic CD. It started slowly going downhill from there, and then just...kept falling.

Sonic Rush provided the only remaining ray of hope, but even that insisted on having character personalities that seemed plucked straight out of a bedtime story. Its saving grace was being the first Sonic game in nearly a decade with good gameplay (and I'm including Wii Sonic as part of the scrap heap - yea I own a copy, but the more I played it, the more disappointed I got). But with no word of a Sonic Rush 2, and then this news...well, it seems Sonic's dead and Sega killed him. And continues pummeling him.

And heck, as much as it pains me to admit, Sega as a whole has been going down the drain lately. The timing of things makes me wonder if the Sammy merger had something to do with it. Back when the Dreamcast was halted, Sega was still in the habit of putting out great games (minus the dwindling Sonic series), and continued to do so for a few years. But then about a year or two ago it all just crashed.

I do have to give the Sonic series credit for one thing though: They're the only games around with a soundtrack that still takes inspiration from the 80's metal world - back when music was still good. Even F-Zero and Doom got rid of that in their latest incarnations, much to their detriment. But Sonic's been keeping the wailing going - I still listen to my Sonic Adventure 1&2 soundtracks now and then.

Sonic is freaking awesome. That's all.

No word of a Sonic Rush sequel? Sonic Rush Adventure would like a word with you ;).

Sonic is pretty much unfit for anyone these days. Sonic Rush was an excellent game, and Secret Rings was alright, but other than that they have all been terrible games. Secret Rings had good gameplay, thank god, but it screwed up in a number of areas. Terrible character personalities, lacklustre voice acting, stupid story, stupid characters, terrible party mode. It was fun, which was nice, but it could have been much more. Sonic Rush could use a few improvements, as well, but it didn't focus nearly as much as the other games on it's flaws, but instead focused mostly on gameplay (and it is one of the best Sonic games in that area). It's a shame to see so little come out of such a great franchise. SEGA should really get their heads out of their asses and realise that it is their fault that these games are losing their appeal. Mario sure as hell isn't, and it isn't even trying to act "cool" or "mature" with swearing, guns and a bunch of (terribly thought out) new characters with every game.

These are dark times for the franchise. I wonder if it will ever improve. I love Sonic Rush, but that isn't even Sonic Team's work. Dimps developed it.

"Even adults would play and enjoy Sonic if, you know, Sega made a good one."

qft :)

To tell you the truth, I didn't even feel Sonic Rush. I got it, and I wanted to love it, but there seemed to be an overreliance on bottomless pits that really undermined the gameplay. Other 2D Sonics had pits too, but Rush's pretty much ruined the game for me.

Of course, "Blaze the Cat" didn't help. Who keeps telling Sonic Team to add more characters?

@#22: You point out some very good issues with Sonic Rush.

I also noticed the sharp increase in pits (also prolific in the 3D Sonics, interestingly), and I certainly would have preferred fewer of them. But I suppose I was willing to overlook those simply because everything else about the gameplay felt so refreshingly solid and progressive compared to the rest of the post-Genesis Sonics (I even found the GBA games to feel somewhat...bland - even if I can't identify any specific faults). And overall, I found those pits much less experience-ruining than the laundry list of never-fixed issues plaguing the 3D Sonics (Awful camera, player-killing physics glitches, low emphasis on Sonic-style levels, etc.)

I'm with you on Blaze, too. But at this point I figure having only one new character and focusing primarily on just Sonic and that character (I'm ignoring the throw-away between-level story sequences) is a notable improvement as far as Sonic games go.

Perhaps low expectations colored my reception of Sonic Rush, but the combination of the new trick/boost mechanic, sheer speed, perfectly-matched music, and "New Mario"-style graphics is what won me over.

I'm a nitpicker, can find faults with nearly anything, so I will add one other minus to Sonic Rush: The final boss is one cheap bastard. I still haven't beaten him.

Also, I know you were being rhetorical, but regarding your question "Who keeps telling Sonic Team to add more characters?", the answer is probably something like "the marketing department". From what I understand, it's not uncommon for the business side to demand bullet-list features (that consumers don't read anyway) at the
expense of the overall game.

Sonic games have always had new characters intorduced to them...
Sonic 1: Sonic, Robotnik
Sonic 2: Tails
Sonic 3: Knuckles
Sonic CD: Amy
Sonic Adventure: Big, others
etc, etc

So don't come crying that because they keep introducing characters it's killing Sonic, it's been the main gimmick of Sonic games since the begining. Okay, some character designs have been questionable, but SEGA needs to stop having such deep and meaninful stories and just go back to a non-talking 2.5D side-scrolling game which resembles something of the glory days of Sonic, Sonic 1 - 3. Add new characters, infact, make it like Sonic Rush, just without the rush, without the story and without the world maps. It isn't rocket science, SEGA.

I think the problem is that they made so many changes to the series that it's keeping older fans away. Voice actors, bad controls, camera, etc.

Sega must like reading "Terrible voice acting" in every review of a new game.

I agree with him. Sure you guys might know the games industry more than him, but he knows his game sales better than you. Sonic has been doing horribly and only kids are still attracted to the character. Albeit you are right though that if they made a goo Sonic game, many adults would then buy it, but they would only be hardcore gamers who are looking for that nostalgic feeling

#27: "Sonic has been doing horribly and only kids are still attracted to the character." - zwarrior

Yes, but that's only because Sega themselves have, through their own actions, changed the Sonic franchise into a kids one.

Okay, okay, okay. So, maybe both sides are right about this issue.

Yes, Sonic has lost his flare. Yes, the games suck. Yes, it's mostly just appealing to kids and longtime fans (like myself, but I don't even buy all of the games anymore). But, what always attracted me to Sonic was the character. I would say that's what attracted many of us to Sonic, actually.

Back in the day, he was the poster-child for the smartass talking animal department. Even in Sonic X (which I can't help but love), he was a pretty cool guy for a 3-foot-tall blue hedgehog because even years of game failure after failure he's still the same character. So what if he has more friends? Most of them are likable, albeit a little annoying sometimes.

In fact, Sonic has been through dark times before, like the Saturn days. Sonic Adventure brought him back from the dead, and I think that by now Sega would know enough about their own series to make a game good enough to do the same. Given, the fact that Sonic Team is virtually nonexistent doesn't help things, either.

The Sonic series needs a couple of things:
1) A good dev team (The games don't suck because of Sonic, you know.)
2) A GREAT game
3) A break (How long did it take Nintendo to crank out another respectable platformer? 11 years? Yeah. That's about right.)
4) Some good press (The reviews are unfavorable, and now even one of Sega's boys are bashing the Blue Blur.)

And there's my piece.

Please: Sonic Rules.

Only Samus and Kirby pwn Sonic, its that simple

I talk about this with one of my friends all the time, as I was a HUGE sonic fan in the genesis days. One of the things that really made the games appealing to a young kid like me, was that, Sonic wasn't saving the world, most of the time, he was rescuing animals! The story has been a huge detriment to modern Sonic games, and I think a return to the core of what made Sonic good would start with that - What is his purpose? and the thought process could then continue into How many goddamn friends do we need? The gameplay in Sonic Wii ranged from alright to really good, at points, but the story was never, ever interesting. It even failed as a weak excuse to be running around with dinosaurs.... Tails isn't Ali Baba, Knuckles isn't Sinbad, and I've never met a single person who ever wanted them to be. What was the point? I'm not even gonna touch the atrocity that is the PS/360 Sonic.... ugh.

It's sad that SoJ will never make a game including SatAM or comicbook characters... the Freedom Fighters, unlike the other added characters from Sonic Adventure on, actually seem to have a reason to exist.

I positively loved Sonic games (and comics, oh god lol kill me) when I was younger. I did enjoy Sonic Adventure a great deal because it was new and different and, at the time, looked awesome.

But seriously, the addition of goddamn Shadow the Hedgehog was the beginning of the end. Or maybe it was just the end. I don't know. But no Sonic product has been evenly remotely good since.